It is no secret. Government officials around the world have long had a weakness for luxury watches.
Putin is perhaps the most notable (he has a personal weakness for Blancpain watches). Bill Clinton is a avid watch collector. However there are many others we hear less about. Just last November the Polish transport minister stepped down for not disclosing a watch costing CHF 6′ooo.
This is ‘peanuts’ compared to a story that is currently unfolding in Turkey.
The story here could be a script straight out of a James Bond movie. Let us explain.
Not even a month ago, the Prime minister of Turkey, Erdogan, dismissed a hand full of government ministers for corruption. The scandal all started with a man called Reza Zarrab. An Iranian businessman of Azerbaijani origin, Zarrab had many business interests, one of which was supplying Iran with Gold.
Late last year a plane carrying a cargo full of Gold was randomly checked at Istanbul’s airport.
The Gold was headed for Iran, who, because of the economic sanctions, finds it useful to trade with gold as a currency. Zarrab who is only in his early 30′s managed to export 1 ton of gold on a daily basis to Iran, doing this for one and a half years. He would take a commission of only 1.7% but since the value of the Gold smuggled was something like $28bn, Mr. Zarrab became a very rich man worth hundreds of millions.
Now back to the plane. Officials at Istanbul’s airport impounded the plane with Zarrab’s gold and thus Zarrab needed men in high places to help him get the plane back on route to Iran. One minister who offered his help was the minister of the Economy, a man called Caglayan. In return for being helped, Zarrab would often bribe government officials close to him. Certain minsters have weaknesses for luxury and Caglayan had a weakness for expensive watches, especially Patek Philippe.
Which leads us to the main point of this story. According to various media sources, Zarrab gave Caglayan a Patek Philippe 5101P (the main watch above) among other gifts in return for helping him with his business operations. While the Patek above looks pretty ordinary, any watch connoisseur will quickly realise this watch is anything but.
You see the 5101P belongs to the most expensive watches made by Patek. The 5101P carries two complications. Firstly it has a 10 day power reserve, which essentially means that you don’t have to wind the watch for 10 days and it will still tell the time accurately. The second complication is not visible from the front. In typical discreet fashion Patek made the complication only visible from behind. The complication we are talking about is a tourbillon and is among the most difficult complications watch makers do today.
What is a 5101 worth? Roughly CHF 300′ooo or USD 32o’ooo. As the scandal with Zarrab unfolded that he was bribing various ministers, Caglayan resigned without admitting any guilt while Zarrab is behind bars facing trial. Guilty or not, the story reminds us of what our parents told us (half jokingly of course) when we were young: If you do something bad, make sure it is worth your while.
It seems that the Turkish minister Caglayan understood this. We are not so sure about the Polish transport minister.
(Sources: Todays Zaman- A Blog,20th of December 2013. Bloomberg, ‘Turkey Crises puts Turkish millionaire at heart of Gold trial’ 29th Jan, 2014).
(I am merely reporting this story and does not in any way indirectly indicate that Caglayan or Zarrab are guilty. We assume they are innocent until proven guilty according to Turkish law. Main picture credit: PuristPro Foversta)
